Mountains of Spices
by Hannah Hurnard
Mountains of Spices is a continuation of Hurnard's classic allegory Hinds' Feet on High Places. It picks up the tale of Much-Afraid, now remade and renamed Grace-and-Glory. She has made her way to the High Places and lives in a loving relationship with the Shepherd. Now he wants her to go back and serve the people in her hometown, pointing the way to those who would go to the High Places as she has.
The book is an allegorical exploration of the fruit of the spirit. There are two chapters devoted to each "fruit," one set atop the mountain, and one back in the valley. In this second novel in the series, Grace-and-Glory learns the secret of living like the waterfalls, a lesson she and we first encountered in the earlier novel. This book teaches her (and us) how to live it out.
It is not often that the second book in a series is as good as the first, and many people do not like Mountains of Spices as well as its predecessor. It is certainly not as famous a book. But it is, in its own way, equally profound. It is a more mature tale, not focusing on a sense of winning a victory, but of moving ever onward toward a fuller life of faith and continual growth.
Reviewed by Shelly Bryant ©2010